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On the Representation of Quasi-Long Vowels in Dutch and Limburgian

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On the Representation of Quasi-Long Vowels in Dutch and Limburgian On the representation of quasi-long vowels in Dutch and Limburgian Ben Hermans 0. Introduction Standard Dutch has three vowels which are phonologically long but phonetically short. These are the high vowels [i], [y], and [u]. The fact that these vowels are phonetically short has hardly received any attention in the literature. In this paper I would like to show that shortness should be an essential ingredient of the phonological characterization of these vowels. On the other hand, however, the arguments that they are long are rather strong. Hence, length must be an essential part of their phonological characteriza• tion, too. This raises the question how to reconcile these conflicting pieces of evidence. Only one solution seems to be adequate. Adopting a proposal first made in Smith et al. (1989) I claim that the vowels [i], [y], [u] are located in a nucleus containing two positions on the X-line, the second of which is empty. Such a representation explains their ability to behave like a long vowel with respect to stress and syllable structure; the fact that the second slot is empty correctly characterizes these vowels as phonetically short. Furthermore, this representation also explains why with respect to certain phonological phenom• ena these vowels act as short. 1. Why [i], [y], [u] must be long Two arguments show conclusively that [i], [y], [u] must somehow be represent• ed as long. The first argument is based on syllable structure. It has been shown by various students of Standard Dutch phonology that the truly long vowels of Dutch, vz. [a], [e], [o], [o] can only be followed by at most one consonant within the syllable (cf. Trommelen 1983, van der Hulst 1984, Kager and Zonneveld 1986, Trommelen and Zonneveld 1989). Contrary to this, the truly short vowels, which are [A], [E], [O], [Y], [I] can be followed by at most two consonants.1 Some examples illustrating these regularities follow.2 The non-low short vowels [E], [O], [I] are slightly lower than the corresponding long vowels e, o, I. To account for this we need a rule which inserts either [tense] or [ATR]. Linguistics in the Netherlands 1992, 75-86. DOI 10.1075/avt.9.09her ISSN 0929-7332 / E-ISSN 1569-9919 © Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap 76 BEN HERMANS (1) long short raam 'window' ramp 'disaster' *raamp geen 'none' help 'help *heelp room 'cream' romp 'trunk' *roomp beul 'hangman' tulp 'tulip' *deunk wilg 'willow' In the examples on the left the long vowels are followed by one tautosyllabic consonant. In the second column the rime contains two consonants; since the vowel is short, these examples are in accordance with the requirements of Dutch syllable structure. In the rightmost column it is shown that long vowels cannot be followed by two tautosyllabic consonants.3 Informally, this generalization can be described as follows: maximally three positions are allowed in the domain of the rime. The formal status of this statement is interesting in itself. In this paper, however, I will say nothing about this issue, since it does not bear directly on the topic we are discussing. The vowels [i], [y] and [u] behave like the forms in the left-hand column in (1), i.e. they allow only one additional position in the rime. This is illustrat• ed by the following examples:4 (2) tien 'ten' *tienk, *tiemp, etc. kluun 'stumble *kluunk, *kluump, etc. 'on ice' *toenk, *toemp, etc. toen 'then' The fact that [i], [y] and [u] pattern with the long vowels with respect to syllable structure constitutes the first argument in favour of the hypothesis that they are phonologically long. The second argument comes from the stress system. It has been observed that, normally, a final syllable with a VVC or VCC rime has word stress (cf. Kager 1989 for extensive discussion and an overview of the literature; see also Trommelen and Zonneveld 1989). These 'superheavy' syllables differ from final syllables with a VC rime, which normally do not have word stress. The The examples are writen in standard orthography. Long vowels are represented as a sequence of two short vowels. Orthographic a, o, u, i, e represent the short vowels [A], [O], [U], [I], [E]. t and s are allowed after the last consonant, even if all positions of the rime are occupied. One way of explaining the 'exceptional' behaviour of these segments is to allow for an appendix where t and s can be syllabified. This solution is proposed in van der Hulst (1984) and also Kager & Zonneveld (1986). For a similar analysis of the equivalent English facts see Borowsky (1987). The orthographic symbols ie, uu, oe represent the quasi long-vowels [i], [y], [u]. QUASI-LONG VOWELS IN DUTCH AND LIMBURGIAN 77 contrast between VVC and VC is illustrated in (3); data are drawn from van der Hulst (1984). Stressed vowels are written in boldface. (3) VVC VC sigaar 'cigar' harnas 'armour' matroos 'sailor' hertog 'duke' juweel 'jewel' moslim 'Muslim' terreur 'terror' cursus 'course' Now consider the following data: (4) paniek 'panic' lirniet 'limit' debuut 'debut' kostuum 'costume' kalkoen 'turkey' citroen 'lemon' These facts demonstrate that [i], [y] and [u] pattern with long vowels. Again this is strong evidence that these vowels should be treated as phonogically long. Long vowels are represented as feature complexes linked to two X-slots dominated by the nucleus. This representation, however, turns out to be not without problems. Certain facts of the tonal phonology of Limburgian dialects suggest that the vowels [i], [y] and [u] should be treated as short. A sketch of the main facts is given in the next section. 2. Basic facts of Limburgian tonology Many dialects spoken in the province of Limburg have a contrast between a falling tone and a concave (falling-rising) tone. Examples illustrating the contrastive function of these tones are given below.5 Data are drawn from the dialect of Maasbracht, a village in the centre of the Dutch part of Limburg. This dialect is my mother tongue. (5) falling ; tone concave tone reet 'reed' reet 'crevice' böök 'books' böök 'beech' kaak 'jaw' maak6 'make' In this paper I will only discuss monosyllabic forms. Although the distribution of tones is unpredictable in longer forms, they are not essential to the discussion. There are no minimal pairs in which long a figures. This has nothing to do with some special properties of this vowel. It is due to mere chance. 78 BEN HERMANS If the first part of a vowel is underlined, it is realized with a falling tone; an exhaustively underlined long vowel is pronounced with the concave tone.7 Following common practice in autosegmental phonology I assume that contour tones are represented as a sequence of level tones (cf. Goldsmith 1976 and Yip 1989). If this proposal is correct, then the following structures seem adequate representations (H = high pitch; L = low pitch): (6) falling tone concave tone HL HLH These representations contain a lot of redundancy. The HL part participates in the representation of both tones. Being redundant it can be left out of underlying representations. At this level tonal structures are as follows: (7) falling tone concave tone -- H I assume that the obligatory high tone which starts both tonal sequences is a so-called 'pitch accent'. This is a high tone which necessarily accompanies a foot. It is the tonal equivalent of a marker on the grid in tree-cum-grid or bracketed grid theories. According to this view a high tone is generated every time a foot is constructed. This tone is located in the head position of a syllable, just like a grid marker in the theory proposed in Kager (1991). The second tone (L) is also predictable. In the case of the falling tone it is inserted by a default rule filling in an empty tonal position if no other tone is available. Together, the construction of a foot (which I neglect in this paper) and the insertion of the default tone yield HL, the correct representation of the falling tone. In the case of the concave tone, the contrastive tone associ• ates to the tonal position that remains free after the construction of the foot. In this way a sequence of two consecutive H tones is derived; the first H is generated at the instigation of foot construction; the second H is the associat• ed contrastive H. This is a violation of the OCP, according to which two adjacent identical elements are forbidden (cf. McCarthy 1986). In order to save the intermediate ill-formed representation a low tone is automatically Concerning the transcription of the Limburgian forms I have tried to stay as close to standard Dutch orthography as possible. The long front rounded vowel, however, which in the orthographical system is spelled as eu, I have represented as öö. QUASI-LONG VOWELS IN DUTCH AND LIMBURGIAN 79 inserted to separate the two high tones.8 Examples of the resulting represen• tations are given in (8). The floating low tone generated by the OCP must be saved on the grounds of 'Prosodic Licensing' proposed by Ito (1986). In Limburgian, at least in the Maasbracht variant, it is impossible to link two tones to one tone bearing unit. Therefore, a new X-slot must be inserted, which is filled by the sur• rounding vowel. In this way a concave tone surfaces. Notice that this analysis predicts that the concave tone is realized on an overlong vowel. This is indeed correct, at least in the dialect of Maasbracht. There is some evidence that in the dialect of Maastricht there is no overlength. It has been noted, however, in de Bot, Cox and Weltens (1990) that in this dialect the tone which contrasts with the falling tone is not concave.
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